Sisterlisa: A Lifestyle of Ministry

Sisterlisa is the publisher and owner of Growing in Grace Magazine. I still remember the day I received her email with her exciting news that she wanted us to join her in creating a one-of-a-kind Christian girls' magazine that did not reflect the world's value system. With joy, we have served with her side-by-side each month writing, interviewing and publishing GGM. I am excited to interview her for this, the First Anniversary Issue.

Why did you decide to start writing and publishing Growing in Grace Magazine?
Several years ago when my girls were in the Christian Elementary School they struggled in their friendships. I noticed that the girls all had different ideas about what friendship was. I became burdened about writing a monthly publication for them so they could all be learning the same Biblical principles. I began 'Looking Forward' and it ran for an entire year. My hope was to have several girls send in contributions, but not all of them were interested in writing. I ran that publication for one full year, then retired 'Looking Forward'. When we began home schooling the desire came back, and when I found your family, I knew our hearts were going in the same direction. I was so happy and honored your family accepted this opportunity to write with us and offer this free online publication for other girls to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.


What is your goal in continuing its publication?
My goal in continuing this publication is to encourage and inspire other girls to grow closer to the Lord as as well as with their families. I feel it is very important to encourage other girls to appreciate their families and build a closer knit relationship with them. I have a deep desire for the Christian population to see what great benefits there are to homeschooling and how God blesses us and our relationships. Among home schoolers I have seen very few actually create a bad reputation for home schoolers, yet that is where the media focuses in on. I desire for GGM to show those Christians that home schooling is blessed by God and see how He works in our lives by what and how we write. We do NOT have to follow the 'Culture of Christianity'. We can create a clear picture of what down to earth Christianity is supposed to be. Between our writers and our readers we have a wonderful support group of ladies who believe in the Christianity God always intended for us to have.

What has it been like for the last year publishing a magazine that has become a favorite with so many mothers and daughters?
Each month I see our email subscription grow and that is encouraging. To me it seems as though God is drawing in those who have the same desires as us, to build upon the family unit. I think that so many times Christians feel alone in their communities wondering where all the other Christians are that have these same desires for the family. I believe God has used GGM to help us all find one another.

Personal

What are the priorities in your life at this season of womanhood?
My priorities have changed so much since we started home schooling. My number one priority is my relationship with the Lord. Without Him nothing else in my life would have a purpose. Secondly, is my relationship with my husband. Since we started home schooling our relationship has become so much sweeter. Having my children home has moved me closer into Bible study than ever before. I enjoy sharing with my husband each day, what God has shown me in his Word. My children are next in my list of priorities. Not only building upon my relationship with each one of them individually, but also as a whole family. Every moment of every day is a teaching moment for us and we all enjoy watching each other growing both spiritually and educationally. I also have ministries that are very important in my life. Of those is GGM, the Sarah Home, and the Deaf Ministry at our church. I have a very full schedule, but I work hard to be sure I give myself to the Lord in each of these areas.


The sanctity of marriage is a top priority for you. What is on your heart about marriage that you want to share?
Most of my readers at AGMinistries know about my testimony. When Mr. B asked me to marry him I made sure he knew that I believed in marriage. I explained that I feel it is for a lifetime and that once I'm married I will not divorce. He expressed that he felt the same way. We are both from broken homes, and we wanted the best we could possibly give to our future children. However, our marriage did not begin with the Lord as the foundation. We both lived in the world and came to Christ later. During the first six years of our marriage, we suffered! Our marriage was nearly destroyed at the hand of the enemy. Our Heavenly Father worked amazing miracles in our lives and redeemed us and our marriage. He 'pulled us out of the miry clay and set our feet upon a rock'. We now have given our lives over to God so that He could use our testimony to help bring other broken marriages back together. We both have a burden to share what God has done in our lives so that others will know the power of His redemption, and that every marriage DOES have a chance to be healthy and full of abundant love.

Family

You have been home schooling for two years now. Describe it for me. What difference has it made in your life?
Well as I said above, it has completely altered our lifestyle. We began home schooling in the fall of 2006, and it's hard to believe it's been that long already! My husband and I both grew up in the public school, and we knew we didn't want that for our children since we came to the Lord. As we were a young struggling newly married couple just coming to the Lord we really didn't know much at all about the Lord nor home schooling. As a matter of fact I have never heard of home school.
We began having our children in the Christian School, and I volunteered as often as possible. Our children have a 3-4 year age difference between each of them. As they grew older their church and school activities began to be separate and our family was going in several different directions. Over the years I had learned a lot about their education while volunteering in the school. As a matter of fact, I pre-schooled them myself and always had summer curriculum to keep their minds fresh.
When the Lord opened the door for us to home school I wanted to know as much as I could about home schooling. I met with a couple of families that I knew had home schooled for many years and asked them a lot of questions. I then hit the library and the internet to find out as much as I could before we made up our minds for sure. My husband was every bit confident in me from the beginning. We began to pray and seek the Lord to be sure it was what He wanted. God confirmed it in both of us during the very same church service. We sat at opposite ends of the church that day, because I was interpreting for the deaf. At the close of the service, I walked over to him and he had a huge smile on his face. I asked him what He got out of the message and he said, "I think that same thing you did." We both said, "Homeschool" at the same time! We both cried! We knew it was what God wanted for us to do! Now our family has grown closer together and we all serve in ministry together.


What fun things do you and your daughters do to tie your hearts together in family and the LORD?
My daughters and I all love to cook and work on GGM. Many times we'll grab the camera as we are cooking and snap tons of shots to share on GGM or on our blogs. We love trying new recipes! We also enjoy stamping stationery and greeting cards. We write thank you notes to other people to encourage them. Most of the time we just enjoy going to the park and hiking, when the weather is nice. We like taking the cameras and stop along the road whenever we see flowers or cute animals.

Ministry

I know you have a passion for ministering outside of your own home. What are the different facets of ministry you are involved in?
We all serve in ministry together. My oldest two daughters have learned sign language and help reach the lives of the deaf in our church. Although my husband has not become fluent in sign language himself, he has come to understand a lot of signs and is able to communicate with the deaf as well. We all adore them so much and are so thankful to serve together in an area we all love. We also help at The Sarah Home, which is the women's ministry within the rescue mission my husband works at. We visit the women each week and spend time with them. We enjoy our summers over there as we can let the kids swim while I talk with the women and help them with their goals and learning the Bible. The back yard is enormous and I can sit on the deck and keep on eye on the kids as they swim. This year we look forward to being able to plant a large garden for all of us to be able to have fresh vegetables this summer.
I believe GGM is also another ministry for us. We have a heart for reaching other families to share how God has used home schooling in our lives. However we want to respect our church's Christian School Ministry at the same time. During the years our children were there we learned a lot. We believe each family should seek the Lord about educating their children. There is a lot to consider when bringing them home. We have a desire to share the wisdom God gave us in our journey to bring our children home.
For our family, we know this is where they belong. Had someone told me to home school during our earlier years as Christians, I would have said no altogether. I was not equipped emotionally, spiritually, nor intellectually at the time. Yet God worked in me all those years and I can see clearly how He has been leading me to homeschooling all this time.

Thank you Sisterlisa, for sharing your heart and your family with us. It is a blessing to hear how the LORD has used home schooling to strengthen your family and is using all that your family does in service to the LORD to keep your family close in Him.